Provincial standards are being drawn up to ensure there is adequate delivery of services in all Gauteng municipalities.

THE Gauteng government is consulting with municipalities to develop minimum service delivery standards that will apply throughout the province.

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane

This was intimated at a media briefing on Friday, 30 July at Hackle Brooke in Craighall Park, just before a meeting of the Premier's Co-ordination Forum.

Speaking to the press, Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said that during a previous forum meeting, municipalities had undertaken to attend to the improvement of service delivery.

"Municipalities have since that meeting developed clear plans to ensure that they are in position to guarantee uninterrupted provision of basic services."

The Premier's Co-ordinating Forum is a provincial body set up to assess the implementation of the Government Programme of Action by provincial and local government. The latest meeting, which was closed to the media and touched on a wide range of issues, was attended by mayors and city managers of Gauteng municipalities.

Mokonyane reiterated that although delivery of basic services was a function of local government, the provincial government would not distance itself from the delivery of such services.

"We will work with the municipalities in the spirit of co-operative governance and, where necessary, assist them to ensure that all our people including those living in underdeveloped areas are able to access basic services."

The province was consulting with all municipalities to develop minimum service standards that would apply across the whole province. She said this process would be concluded in September, and the service standards would be made public so that people could use them to assess the performance of governments regarding the provision of basic services.

World Cup
On other issues, Mokonyane said about the resounding success of the World Cup: "Through the World Cup, South Africa has achieved unprecedented levels of national unity and social cohesion. In Gauteng, the Gateway 2010 campaign and the various initiatives we took to encourage people to fly the flag and act as good hosts contributed to this."

Executive mayor Amos Masondo opens the Migrants Help Desk

She added: "The challenge now is to sustain the positive mood generated during the World Cup and ensure that the people of Gauteng continue to engage in activities that promote the positive things about South Africa and the province."

Lessons learned from hosting the football tournament include: co-ordination of modes of transport; consistent collection of refuse; that dissemination of information to citizens was vital; and that swift prosecution of offenders was needed.

By-law enforcement by the Johannesburg metro police department was excellent and the abilities of the South African Police Service were tested, but the police were very capable.

About the recent isolated xenophobic attacks, the premier said: "The World Cup showed that we as South Africans are not xenophobic. We all rallied behind Ghana as the only remaining African team, showing our commitment to Africa and denouncing xenophobia."

Municipalities in Gauteng such as Johannesburg were working closely with the national government to ensure foreign nationals in the city were safe. The City of Johannesburg has also set up a Migrants' Helpdesk where foreign nationals can seek assistance and be registered, and where anti-xenophobia awareness campaigns can be developed and conducted with local communities.